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This chapter includes the following sections:
If you follow the correct procedure and apply the upgrades in the correct order, a direct firmware upgrade and the activation of the new firmware version on the endpoints is minimally disruptive to traffic in a Cisco UCS domain.
You can directly upgrade the firmware on the following endpoints:
The CIMC and BIOS firmware can also be upgraded through the host firmware package in the service profile. If you use a host firmware package to upgrade this firmware, you can reduce the number of times a server needs to be rebooted during the firmware upgrade process.
Note | You cannot directly upgrade an endpoint if the service profile associated with the server includes a firmware package. To perform a direct upgrade, you must remove the firmware package from the service profile. |
Cisco UCS Manager separates the direct upgrade process into two stages to ensure that you can push the firmware to an endpoint while the system is running without affecting uptime on the server or other endpoints.
During this stage, the system copies the selected firmware version from the primary fabric interconnect to the backup partition in the endpoint and verifies that the firmware image is not corrupt. The update process always overwrites the firmware in the backup slot.
The update stage applies only to the following endpoints:
During this stage, the system sets the specified image version (normally the backup version) as the startup version and, if you do not specify Set Startup Version Only, immediately reboots the endpoint. When the endpoint is rebooted, the backup partition becomes the active partition, and the active partition becomes the backup partition. The firmware in the new active partition becomes the startup version and the running version.
The following endpoints only require activation because the specified firmware image already exists on the endpoint:
Cisco UCS Manager
Fabric interconnects
CMC
Shared Adapter
Board controllers for chassis and server
Storage controller
CIMC
BIOS
When the firmware is activated, the endpoint is rebooted and the new firmware becomes the active kernel version and system version. If the endpoint cannot boot from the startup firmware, it defaults to the backup version and raises a fault.
When you perform a direct firmware upgrade on an endpoint, you can disrupt traffic or cause an outage in one or more of the endpoints in the Cisco UCS domain.
When you upgrade the firmware for a fabric interconnect, you cause the fabric interconnect reboot.
A firmware upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager causes the following disruptions:
When you upgrade the firmware for CMC in a chassis you do not cause any outage.
If you activate the firmware for a shared adapter, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
If you activate the firmware for a storage controller, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
If you activate the firmware for a board controller, you cause the following outage impacts and disruptions:
A firmware upgrade to the BIOS causes the server to reboot.
When you upgrade the firmware for a CIMC in a server, you impact only the CIMC and internal processes. You do not interrupt server traffic. This firmware upgrade causes the following outage impacts and disruptions to the CIMC:
If you activate the firmware for a board controller on a server, you cause the server to be powered off during the upgrade and powered on after the upgrade is complete.
While activating the storage controller, board controller and shared adapter firmware, it is recommended that you power down the servers. In case you do not power down the servers during activation, Cisco UCSM will attempt to power down the servers and wait for a maximum of 16 minutes. During this time, if Cisco UCSM still finds that the servers are not powered down, FSM will fail and Cisco UCSM will not power up the servers that it powered down. FSM will try to come up after 8 minutes.
If UCSM successfully powers down the servers, it will power up the associated servers, based on their desired power states, after activation is complete.
The following example updates and activates the CMC firmware to version 2.0(2.30) in the same transaction, without verifying that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope chassis 2 UCS-A# /chassis # scope cmc UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # update firmware 2.0(2.30) UCS-A# /chassis/cmc* # activate firmware 2.0(2.30) UCS-A# /chassis/cmc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # show firmware CMC: Running-Vers: 2.0(2.30) Package Vers: 2.5(0.147)M Update-Status: Ready Activate-Status: Ready
The following example updates the CMC firmware to version 2.0(2.30), verifies that the firmware update completed successfully before starting the firmware activation, activates the CMC firmware, and verifies that the firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope chassis 2 UCS-A# /chassis # scope cmc UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # update firmware 2.0(2.30) UCS-A# /chassis/cmc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # show update status Status: Ready UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # activate firmware 2.0(2.30) UCS-A# /chassis/cmc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # show activate status Status: Ready UCS-A# /chassis/cmc # show firmware CMC: Running-Vers: 2.0(2.30) Package Vers: 2.5(0.147)M Update-Status: Ready Activate-Status: Ready
In Cisco M-Series, updating and activating the shared adapter firmware affects all servers in a chassis.
Gracefully power down the servers.
The following example updates and activates the shared adapter firmware to version 4.0(2S33) in the same transaction, without verifying that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1 UCS-A# /chassis # scope adapter UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show image Name Type Version --------------------------------------------- -------------------- ------- ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S12.bin IOM 4.0(2S12) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S17.bin IOM 4.0(2S17) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S22.bin IOM 4.0(2S22) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S27.bin IOM 4.0(2S27) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S33.bin IOM 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # update firmware 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter* # activate firmware 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show firmware Adapter: Running-Vers: 4.0(2S33) Package-Vers: 2.5(0.210)M Update-Status: Ready Activate-Status: Ready
The following example updates the shared adapter firmware to version 4.0(2S33), verifies that the firmware update completed successfully before starting the firmware activation, activates the shared adapter firmware, and verifies that the firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1 UCS-A# /chassis # scope adapter UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show image Name Type Version --------------------------------------------- -------------------- ------- ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S12.bin IOM 4.0(2S12) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S17.bin IOM 4.0(2S17) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S22.bin IOM 4.0(2S22) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S27.bin IOM 4.0(2S27) ucs-m83-8p40-vic.4.0.2S33.bin IOM 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # update firmware 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show update status Status: Ready UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # activate firmware 4.0(2S33) UCS-A# /chassis/adapter* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show activate status Status: Ready UCS-A# /chassis/adapter # show firmware Adapter: Running-Vers: 4.0(2S33) Package-Vers: 2.5(0.210)M Update-Status: Ready Activate-Status: Ready
Gracefully power down the servers.
The following example shows how to activate the storage controller firmware:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1 UCS-A# /chassis # scope raid-controller 1 sas UCS-A# /chassis/raid-controller # activate firmware 24.5.1.1 Warning: When committed, this command will soft shutdown the servers and reset the endpoint. Associated servers power state will be restored after endpoint reset. UCS-A# /chassis/raid-controller* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/raid-controller* # show activate status Activate-Status: Ready
Gracefully power down the servers.
The following example shows how to activate the board controller firmware on a chassis:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1 UCS-A /chassis # scope boardcontroller UCS-A /chassis/boardcontroller # activate firmware 1.0.4 Warning: When committed, this command will soft shutdown the servers and may power cycle the chassis while activating the board controller. Associated servers power state will be restored after chassis power cycle. UCS-A# /chassis/boardcontroller # commit-buffer UCS-A /chassis/boardcontroller* # show firmware Board Controller: Running-Vers: 1.0.4 Package-Vers: 2.5(0.210)M Activate-Status: Ready UCS-A /chassis/boardcontroller* #
You can update and activate BIOS firmware on a server using the Cisco UCS Manager CLI.
The following example updates and activates the BIOS firmware in the same transaction, without verifying that the firmware update and activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope server 1/2/1 UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server # scope bios UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/bios # update firmware UCSME.142M4.2.0.100.52.122920140321 UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/bios # activate firmware UCSME.142M4.2.0.100.52.122920140321 UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/bios* # commit-buffer
The activation of firmware for a CIMC does not disrupt data traffic. However, it will interrupt all KVM sessions and disconnect any vMedia attached to the server.
The following example updates and activates the CIMC firmware to version 2.0(100.46) in the same transaction, without verifying that the firmware update and firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope server 1/2/1 UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server # scope cimc UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # update firmware 2.0(100.46) UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc* # activate firmware 2.0(100.46) UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc #
The following example updates the CIMC firmware to version 2.0(100.46), verifies that the firmware update completed successfully before starting the firmware activation, activates the CIMC firmware, and verifies that the firmware activation completed successfully:
UCS-A# scope server 1/1 UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server # scope cimc UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # update firmware 2.0(100.46) UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # show firmware Running-Vers Update-Status Activate-Status --------------- --------------- --------------- 2.0(100.46) Updating Ready UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # show firmware Running-Vers Update-Status Activate-Status --------------- --------------- --------------- 2.0(100.46) Ready Ready UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # activate firmware 2.0(100.46) UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # show firmware Running-Vers Update-Status Activate-Status --------------- --------------- --------------- 2.0(100.46) Ready Activating UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/cimc # show firmware Running-Vers Update-Status Activate-Status --------------- --------------- --------------- 2.0(100.46) Ready Ready
This can be done only on servers in the Cisco UCSME-2814 cartridge.
Gracefully power down the servers.
The following example shows how to activate the board controller firmware on a chassis:
UCS-A# scope chassis 1/3/1 UCS-A /chassis/cartridge/server # scope boardcontroller UCS-A /chassis/cartridge/server/boardcontroller # activate firmware 2.0 Warning: When committed this command will reset the end-point UCS-A# /chassis/cartridge/server/boardcontroller # commit-buffer UCS-A /chassis/cartridge/server/boardcontroller* # show firmware Board Controller: Running-Vers: 2.0 Package-Vers: 2.5(1.89)M Activate-Status: Ready UCS-A /chassis/cartridge/server/boardcontroller* #
The following example upgrades Cisco UCS Manager and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope system UCS-A# /system # show image Name Type Version -------------------------------------------------- ---------------- ----------- ucs-manager-k9.2.5.0.1a.bin System 2.5(1a) UCS-A# /system # activate firmware 2.5(1a) UCS-A# /system* # commit-buffer UCS-A# /system #
When updating the firmware on two fabric interconnects in a high availability cluster configuration, you must activate the subordinate fabric interconnect before activating the primary fabric interconnect. For more information about determining the role for each fabric interconnect, see Verifying the High Availability Status and Roles of a Cluster Configuration.
For a standalone configuration with a single fabric interconnect, you can minimize the disruption to data traffic when you perform a direct firmware upgrade of the endpoints. However, you must reboot the fabric interconnect to complete the upgrade and, therefore, cannot avoid disrupting traffic.
Tip | If you ever need to recover the password to the admin account that was created when you configured the fabric interconnects for the Cisco UCS domain, you must know the running kernel version and the running system version. If you do not plan to create additional accounts, Cisco recommends that you save the path to these firmware versions in a text file so that you can access them if required. |
Command or Action | Purpose | |
---|---|---|
Step 1 | UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect {a | b} |
Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified fabric interconnect. |
Step 2 | UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show image |
Displays the available software images for the fabric interconnect. |
Step 3 | UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # activate firmware {kernel-version kernel-ver-num | system-version system-ver-num} |
Activates the selected firmware version on the fabric interconnect. |
Step 4 | UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # commit-buffer |
Commits the transaction. Cisco UCS Manager updates and activates the firmware, and then reboots the fabric interconnect , disrupting data traffic to and from that fabric interconnect. |
The following example upgrades the fabric interconnect to version 5.2(3)N2(2.21.92) and commits the transaction:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show image Name Type Version --------------------------------------------- -------------------- ----------------- ucs-6100-k9-kickstart.5.2.3.N2.2.50.225.bin Fabric Interconnect Kernel 5.2(3)N2(2.50.225) ucs-6100-k9-system.5.2.3.N2.2.50.225.bin Fabric Interconnect System 5.2(3)N2(2.50.225) UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # activate firmware kernel-version 5.2(3)N2(2.50.224) system-version 5.2(3)N2(2.50.224) UCS-A /fabric-interconnect* # commit-buffer UCS-A /fabric-interconnect #